Meanings
- USderogatoryuncountableusuallyMarginally productive government-financed employment.
Relief was essential and began under Hoover; then, under Roosevelt, relief turned into leaf-raking, and leaf-raking turned into constructive enterprise.
1955, Robert L. Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Economists, page 2252 more examples
public agencies were to plan building programs that would do the job and preserve communities from “the necessity of feeding hungry men through the expediency of 'leaf-raking' projects or the dole or soup lines.
1991, Robert Dallek, Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960, volume 1Yet neither man came close to realizing his early political promise, or to forgiving the tendency of the average voter to sell his birthright for a leaf-raking job or Social Security card.
2003, Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, 1880-1955, page 63
Origin
Sense regarding employment: from the nature of some of the activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression in the US.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Swedish lövkrattning, skyddad verkstad
- lövkrattningraking of leaves
- skyddad verkstadgovernment-financed employment
Cite this entry
leaf-raking. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leaf-raking
“leaf-raking.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leaf-raking. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “leaf-raking,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leaf-raking.
Source: leaf-raking on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.